Hello families of Visual Art, Film and Photography students!
We are about to engage in two very intense and important weeks and we would very much appreciate your help.
On November 6 we will be visited by representatives from 50+ schools from 8 countries and 4 continents to see the work of 80 of our grade 12’s. Nothing like this happens anywhere else on the planet as far as we know. This is the single most significant day of every Visual Art student’s time at ESA – and many film and photography students – as it will be for future grade 12 students.
The representatives from all of the attending schools use this opportunity to scout the majority of their top picks for the 2016-2017 year. As far as we can figure, ESA students are offered more top scholarship offers than any other group of students on the planet – in part because of our Annual Portfolio Day.
Many of the school representatives are flying in to Toronto only to see us. Their costs can be substantial when flying in from Europe, staying in hotels, etc, just to spend a few hours with our kids. The benefit on our end for those applying to these schools is significantly increased scholarship offers and a near perfect acceptance record – almost every one of our kids gets into every program they apply to.
It is vitally important that we make their time with us as enjoyable and rewarding as possible so that they support our kids during the application and scholarship process, and so that they want to come back to ESA next year.
We can do this by being prepared to prove that we are the top picks on the planet, and by helping the representatives to have a really fantastic day in our school. We know that we can do an even better job with your help in making this the best Portfolio Day experience ever.
Parents who have children in grades 9-11 might want to get involved now in order to better help your child prepare for their Portfolio Day experience. This is an enormous endeavour and we would love your help and to get to know you!
I would like to ask you for three things.
– We are feeding and hydrating and caffinating 110 or so representatives and feeding 80 students for a day. Donations of special food and drink items, homemade as well as purchased, for the reps would be enormously appreciated by all involved. Anyone who would like to contribute with food/drinks please feel free to drop off whatever you can the morning of November 6th.
– We can really use your help setting up and taking down. This may be the largest art show on the planet – something in the range of 2500 works – that is set up and taken down in a day and a half. We will be installing throughout the school on the first floor and there will be all kinds of jobs. Most of the install happens between noon and 10pm on Thursday November 5th. Take down begins at 9.15pm on Friday November 6th and usually takes us just over an hour.
– Advertising. One of the most exciting moments of Portfolio Day is at 7pm when the public is invited to join us for a look at what we have been up to. If you could please invite as many interested friends and family members as possible, it would greatly contribute to our experience. Anyone with press or media contacts is invited to make special invitations as we would appreciate the publicity. In the past we have had coverage by CBC news and the Toronto Star etc. More of the same helps increase our reach for potential future applicants to the program.
The schedule for PD6 2015 is:
Noon – Reps arrive
12.40 – PD6 interviews begin
6.30 – Parents are invited to attend to speak with reps
7.00 – Public is invited to join us
9.15 – Official end and start of clean up
10.45 – Done for the day
At this moment the following schools are signed up for the event:
1. Paris College of Art, Paris, FRA
2. Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, CO, USA
3. Savannah College of Art and Design, GA, USA
4. Savannah College of Art and Design, Hong Kong
5. Savannah College of Art and Design, Lacoste, FRA
6. Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA, USA
7. School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA
8. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, CAN
9. San Francisco Art Institute, CA, USA
10. Yukon School of Visual Art, Dawson City, CAN
11. Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC, CAN
12. Art Centre College of Design, Pasadena, CA, USA
13. Parsons Paris, FRA
14. Parsons The New School, NY, USA
15. Waterloo University, ON, CAN
16. College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI, USA
17. Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, AB, CAN
18. Mount Allison University, Sackville, MB, CAN
19. Laguna College of Art and Design, Laguna Beach, CA, USA
20. Max the Mutt Animation School, Toronto, ON, CAN
21. Sheridan College of Art, Toronto, ON, CAN
22. Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR, USA
23. Pratt MWP College of Art and Design, Utica, NY, USA
24. Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, CAN
25. PRATT Institute, Brooklyn, NY, USA
26. Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA, USA
27. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA
28. Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
29. California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
30. Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK
31. Central Saint Martins, London, UK
32. Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
33. London College of Communication, London, UK
34. London College of Fashion, London, UK
35. Wimbledon College of Arts. , London, UK
36. School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, York University, Toronto, CAN
37. Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
38. Concordia University, Montreal, CAN
39. Humber College, Toronto, CAN
40. School of Visual Art, Manhattan, USA
41. McMaster University, Hamilton, CAN
42. OCADU, Toronto, ON, CAN
43. Durham College, Oshawa, ON, CAN
44. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, USA
45. Waterloo University Interdisciplinary BA of Knowledge Integration, Waterloo, ON, CAN
46. Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
47. Toronto School of Art, ON, CAN
48. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland
49. Trent University, Peterborough, ON, CAN
50. Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, CAN
51. University of British Colombia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, CAN
52. University of Waterloo School of Architecture, Waterloo, ON, CAN
53. LaSalle College, Montreal, PQ, CAN
Invitation to the event for the public:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1496502883996694/
Thank you all very much!
Matthew Varey